'Arrow' Recap: Episode 10: 'Burned'

Previously on "Arrow": Oliver, our hooded hero, went up against the Dark Archer (aka Malcolm Meryln, the father of his best friend. He lost and barely escaped with his life. And Oliver’s mother Moira Queen attempted to make a turn for good but her plans were thwarted by Malcolm, who kidnapped her husband, Walter, to ensure her cooperation in his evil plan.

The latest episode finds us six weeks down the road since Arrow’s fight with the Dark Archer and yet Oliver is still feeling the effects. He hasn’t been on the prowl for the criminal element haunting Starling City or marking off people on his father’s list. Instead he has focused his efforts on helping his mom and sister Thea cope with the unexplained absence of Walter.

The latest string of murders just may help get back into the groove however; it seems that someone dressed in firefighter garb has been visiting the scenes of fires and setting firefighters on fire after dousing them in turpentine. The latest victim is none other than Laurel’s co-worker brother.

Jo pleads with Laurel to take a closer look into the case. She knows her brother was murdered and she presents a lot of evidence to Laurel that certainly suggests that something is fishy. Like the fact that turpentine was all over her brother’s uniform even though it wasn’t in the factory that caught fire and that he burned hotter than the actual fire. So Laurel shows the case to her father. Of course he quickly brushes her off. But not before he shows her the phone that the hooded vigilante sent him however. She sneaks it off of his desk while he isn’t looking and calls up Arrow for help.

Oliver, unable to resist a pleading woman, shows up at Laurel’s house. How she doesn’t notice the way he stands, his body shape, anything about him that resembles the guy she wants us to believe she is deeply in love with is beyond me. But nonetheless, she reviews the information with Arrow and he agrees to look into it.

Back at Arrow HQ, Oliver recounts the evidence to Diggle (who looks pretty nice shirtless) and asks his bodyguard to dig up some clues and then hand what he finds over to the police since is all “in his feelings” and incapable of actually doing any rescuing at this time. They are interrupted by noise of Tommy pretending to be a club manager upstairs and Oliver goes up to look into it. Seems the contractors aren't working fast enough or at all. And Tommy wants to host a benefit for firefighters, an excellent idea that still won’t get him any closer to a firm commitment from Laurel.

At home, Moira is still sharing her depression with everyone else. But a man in a suit tries to convince her that it’s time she snap out of her funk and take the top spot at Queens Enterprises. The stock has been doing backflips since the past two heads have disappeared under mysterious circumstances. She rebuffs his attempts and insists that she isn’t done making her family’s life miserable. She must finish eradicating any joy in the house before she even thinks about taking up a position at the company.

Seems Moira and Oliver are suffering from a similar affliction. Both are sad and feeling it’s their duty to help those closest to them, even though they aren’t actually helping anyone.